Conduit railway-trolley



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheen 1.

R, J. HEWETT.,` GONDUIT RAILWAY TROLLEY. .No..526,835. Patented Oct. 2,1894.

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/M/ MM (No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2,

R.J. HEWETT. GONDUIT RAILWAY TROLLEY.

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UNITED STATE-s JPari-nvr Orrrcs.

ROBERT JOSEPHUS HEWETT, OF ST. LOUIS, IVIISSOURI.

coNDulT RAILWAY-TRoLLEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 526,835, dated October2, 1894.

Application ined February 9, 1894. serial No. 499,621. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT JosEPHUs HEWETT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city of St. Louis and State-of Missouri, haveinvented certain new andjuseful Improvements in Conduit ElectricRailways, of which the following is a specification. Y

This invention relates to conduit electric railways.

The object is to provide a conduit system applicable to the variouspractical requirements of street railways. v

In carrying out the invention I mount upon insulated supports in aslotted conduit supply conductors of special construction and provideeach car with a trolley device so constructed as to be at all times inthe best cooperative relation to said conductors and to automaticallyadjust itself to the best working relation in passing over curves. Thetrolley device is also so constructed as to permit detachment from thecar to permit other cars to pass over, and to admit of removal from theconduit. The trolley is preferably of the overrunning type, whichenables a more sim-l ple line construction to provide for transit overswitches and crossings. The trolley is so mounted that it willaccurately follow vertical or horizontal ldeviations of the supplyconductors from a right line but will always maintain the supporting baror plow in true Vertical alignment with the slot.

The several features ofnovelty will be more particularly described'hereinafter, Jand will be definitely indicated in the claims ,appendedlto this specification. y

In the accompanying' drawings which illustrate my invention, Figure l isa sectional view on the plane of the line 2-2 Fig. 2,1ooking in thedirection indicated by the arrows, showing in side elevation a trolleyembodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of a conduitembodying my improvements, showing also part of an overrunning trolley.Fig. l3 is'a'top plan of the conduit and the trolleyv support. l Y

In Fig.l1 A isA aV conduitI of suitable Vdepth and width constructed ofconcrete as a part' integral of the permanent Way as in cable railwayconstruction. The upper part, however is provided with a dat roof formedof roof plates Z of cast iron or wrought iron resting The slot rails I,I, are of the same pattern as used in cable railways. The conduit roofis made flat instead of arched so as to provide shelter fory theconducting bars and insulators, thus placing them as far as possible outof reach of the slot. Hand holes with suitable hatch covers may beprovided at intervals along the line of Way to facilitate cleaning andrepairs, and to permitremoving the trolley from the'conduit whennecessary. As these may be of ordinary construction, I have deemed itunnecessary to illustrate them. Ample sewer connections are alsoprovided at intervals to permit drainage. The insulators D, D are of anysuitable form such as are used for heavy line work, and are fixed to theconduit yokes by means of bracket pins F, F as shown. Oil insulators maybe used when the working potentials are such as to require them. Theconducting bars are of angle iron as shown at C', O2, fixed as shown ontop of strong bell-shaped insulators, D, D, by means of xtures E. Thefixtures E consists of a metal cap fastened in any suitable way to thetop of the insulator and havinga web extending upward and terminatingwith a flange. Tothe iiange is attached the angle iron conductingv barsC', C2 by means of bolts passing through slotted holes in the ange tocompensate for or permit expansion and contraction. Expansion joints mayalso be provided. The angle iron pattern of conducting bar gives greatstability. The vertical `portion should have the greater width, say oneand one-half inches thus providing for the downward strain, while thehorizontal portion may have a lesser dimension, say one inch thus givinga stability in a lateral direction, so as to maintainthe two bars inparallelism.

In conduit systems using underrunning contact devices the conductorsmust necessarily 'have gaps at crossings and -switches of sufficientwidth to permit the passage of the carrying bar. This lnecessitatescomplicated crossings and switches. For this reason I prefer anoverrunning trolley since in such ICO construction the contacts andcarrying devices travel abovethe conductingbars. Grossings and switchescan therefore be of the most simple design. Moreover, the conductors aremade to support the trolley device and the continuity of the conduit ismore easily maintained.

The trolley device is composed of a connecting bar l-l one end of whichis attached to the truck frame by means of a universal joint J, andextends back over the guard-board X, terminating in a bifu rcatedextension surrounding a vertical axle K reduced at the extremities so asto form shoulders, as indicated in Fig. l, against which the ring-shapedtermini S', S2 of the bar H bear. The axle K is slotted on one side, asindicated in Fig. 3, and the bearing rings S', S2 are correspondinglyslotted to admit the insertion or withdrawal of the plow L, which may belocked in place by a key Q passing through the axle, as will be fullyunderstood from an examination of Figs. l and 3. A check key Q passingthrough the narrow end of the key Q serves to keep the latter rmly inplace. It will thus be seen that the axle K forms a support for the plowand permitsa rotary movement in a horizontal plane,\so thatthe trolleywheels O', O2 may be adjusted to the best working relation of theconductors in transit over a curve. To the lower end of the plow L isattached by means of a joint M, see Fig. 2, an insulated cross-bar N tothe ends of which are attached two trolley wheels O', O2. The trolleywheels run on the vertical part of the two angle iron conducting bars C,C2. The axis of M is horizontal and permits the two trolley wheels toadapt themselves to dierences of level of the two conducting bars.

tain the plow in a vertical position, but permit entire freedom ofmovement in lateral directions, so as to conform to the curvature of theslot. A bent bar R, which I call a tiller bar because it steers oradjusts the plow and trolley wheels to the curvature of the conduitslot, is pivotally mounted on the axle K so as to be capable of beingrocked in a vertical plane. It is provided at its extremities withvertical guide bars T T2, either of which may be thrown in the slot soas to control the position of the plow. As shown in the drawings, Fig.l, the bar T is in active relation to the slot and said bar forms oneend of a short chord of the circle or arc on which the `tiller bar R ismoving, the plow forming the other end of the chord. The conduit plowand its insulated cross-bar N, which is theaxis of the trolley wheels,is thereby adjusted for the curve, that is to say, the axis of thewheels is shifted to a line slightly in` advance of the radius line ofthe curve, and this adjustment takes place before `the wheels reach thecurve. The ends of the tiller bar may be made adjustable ina line with:the slot so as to vary the lead of this advanced adjustment accordingto the average curva- The connecting bar H and the slotted axle K main-`ture of the line, though in most cases this adjustment can beexperimentally determined for the line and the bars may benon-adjustable. When the car is moving toward the left the guide bar Tis turned up ont of the slot and the guidebar T2 is turned down into theslot. The result of these provisions is that the conduit slot steers thetrolley so as to constantly maintain the best working relation betweenthe wheels and working condnctors, and no reliance need be placed uponthe flanges of the wheels to accomplish this result.

Modifications of the construction described will readily occur to those.skilled in the art.

To the trolley wheels O, O2 are connected insulated Wires l, 2,whichlead up through a suitable channel in the plow and terminate ininsulated tubular connections W', W2, which are located entirely withinthe upper end of the plow and are thoroughly insulated from it. Flexiblewires 3, 4, terminating in plug connectors may be placed in or withdrawnfrom electrical communication with the tubular sockets. The wires 3, 4,lead to the motors and controlling devices on the car. At the end oflines where through car service is required with overhead trolley lines,the trolley plow is disconnected by removing the terminals 3, 4 from thesockets, and then removing key Q. The plow can-then be dropped out ofthe axle K and 'turned down into the conduit until the crosspin P restson the edges of the conduit slot, where it is entirely out of the way ofguard boards and truck frames of cars. The cars can then be moved overwithout obstruction. The plow may then be shifted along the trackthrough switches to the in-bound track, and attached to aninbound car.When out of use the connecting bar H, is h ung up on hook Y.

The plow and trolley can be removed from the conduit along the route bytaking out the pin P and dropping the plow into the conduit, when it canbelremoved sidewise through one of the hand holes placed at intervals.

At a crossing with another similar system the supply conductors of theroad havingthe right of way may be made continuous, and those of theintersecting road interrupted and connected by suitable conductorsdipping under the continuous conductors, insulated guide bars to supportthe trolley at the dead sections being used.

I do not contine my invention to the use of trolley Wheels. .Slidingcontacts might also be used. Neither do I limit the invention to twoconducting bars. The trolley device is readily applicable to oneconducting bar by merely omitting one trolley wheel and half of theinsulated cross-bar N and joint M. The single trolley wheel would thenbeu carried bya rigid insulated arm instead of the cross-bar N. It

will be evident that my invention is readilyapplicable to the existingforms of cable railway conduits. Having thus described my invention,what IOO IIO

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A conduit collector provided with an adj ustable steering deviceengaging the slot walls at a point in advance of the plow toautomatically adjust the collector to curves.

2. A conduit collector provided with an adjustable steering deviceengaging the slot walls at a point in advance of the plow toautomatically adj ust the collector to curves, and

means for reversing the position of the steertacts capable of rocking ona horizontal axis within the conduit.

5. A conduit collector provided with a pivoted support mounted on thevehicle, to admit movement in vertical and horizontal planes adetachable plow capable of dropping Within the conduit connectedthereto, detachable connections for the motor leads and means for Ysustaining the pivoted support when the plow is disconnected.

6. A conduit collector comprising a pivoted bar mounted on the vehicleso as to permit of lateral and vertical movement, a detachable plowmounted'on said bar capable of rotary movement in a horizontal plane,and a current collector engaging the conductors within 4o the conduitmounted on said plow.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 5th day ofFebruary, A. D. 1894.

ROBERT J OSEPHUS HEWETT.

Witnesses:

J. J. HAMMOND, F. J. LAUGHLIN.

